OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) Daily Report 98/2020 issued on 25 April 2020

Summary

• Compared with the previous reporting period, the Mission recorded a similar number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk region and more in Luhansk region.
• The SMM followed up on reports of civilian casualties in Syhnalne and Vesele.
• Members of the armed formations continued to deny the SMM passage at checkpoints along official crossing routes in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.*
• The Mission continued monitoring the disengagement area near Stanytsia Luhanska and saw workers preparing to install roofs and windows on new booths at the checkpoint of the armed formation south of the bridge.
• Inside the disengagement area near Zolote, the SMM saw persons near former forward positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as well as near those of the armed formations.
• The Mission recorded ceasefire violations inside the disengagement area near Petrivske.
• The SMM saw weapons in violation of withdrawal lines in government- and non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk region.
• It continued to monitor and facilitate adherence to localized ceasefires to enable repairs to critical civilian infrastructure on both sides of the contact line, as well as demining activities in a non-government-controlled area of Luhansk region.
• The SMM saw that an entry-exit checkpoint and two checkpoints of the armed formations in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions remained close amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
• The Mission’s freedom of movement continued to be restricted in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions.*